Date of Conferral

8-27-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Julibeth Lauren

Abstract

Medication nonadherence in bipolar disorder is a significant contributor to relapse, hospitalization, and functional decline. This doctor of nursing practice (DNP) staff education project addressed a practice gap at the project site involving inconsistent clinician knowledge and absence of a standardized approach to adherence education. The practice-focused question for this project was: How does implementing an evidence-based staff educational program improve clinical staff knowledge in supporting medication adherence in patients with bipolar disorder? The purpose of this project was to implement a structured, evidence-based educational intervention to improve clinician knowledge related to medication adherence strategies. The intervention consisted of a 60-minute educational session delivered to eight clinical staff members using a standardized presentation. Knowledge acquisition was measured using a 15-item pre- and postintervention assessment, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired samples t-test. Results demonstrated that all participants improved in knowledge following the intervention. The mean knowledge score increased from 9.13 (SD = 3.23) pre-intervention to 14.75 (SD = 0.46) postintervention. This improvement was statistically significant, t(7) = –5.44, p < .001, with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.92). Postintervention scores showed reduced variability and convergence toward high performance. The results of this project support the use of structured staff education to improve clinician knowledge. Recommendations include integration of evidence-based adherence education into routine clinical workflows with repeated education and ongoing evaluation to support more consistent and equitable delivery of patient education practices, improving access to high-quality mental health care.

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